KUWAIT CITY, May 4, (KUNA): The Ministry of Finance has announced that the State of Kuwait joined the list of countries which agreed initially in substance on the FATCA (Intergovernmental Agreement). The Ministry disclosed that they have agreed on substance regarding the FATCA Agreement with the US Treasury Department in accordance with the Intergovernmental Agreement Model 1 IGA and initialed on May 1.

The State of Kuwait has been included in the list of 30 countries on the Treasury Department’s website, the ministry said in a release.

The Ministry of Finance has completed the first stage of initialing the procedures of the FATCA Agreement that provides legal coverage for the banks and financial institutions to comply with the requirement of the FATCA which has extended the deadline for the registration of banks and financial institutions on the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) website which will be due on May 5 as announced by the Treasury Department on Dec 31, 2014.

The Ministry of Finance took a step further towards maintaining the integrity of the financial institutions of the State of Kuwait which could be subject to any financial penalties and list them among the Financial Institutions that are noncompliant with the FATCA Agreement. As a result, the banks and financial institutions including the Foreign Financial Institution (FFI) have already complied with the FATCA, it said. In this regard, the Ministry of Finance asked the Cabinet to issue a decree that will enforce all the respective governmental institutions which include the Capital Markets Authority, Ministry of Trade and Central Bank of Kuwait to cooperate with the Ministry of Finance to comply and enforce all the necessary procedures which are set out by the Ministry of Finance to conclude the FATCA Agreement, it said. The Ministry of Finance encourages all banks and financial institutions to register on the IRS website as required by the FATCA Agreement, according to the release.